If you think back to your cub scout days in the first half of the 1950s, you should remember that a heavily smoked piece of glass will do the job just fine. But I guess holding a 4-6" square of class over a burning candle is much too dangerous. A pin hole in a pice of black pape can also be used to project the sun onto another piece of paper. That might be dangerous too because, at the mention of a pin hole, someone would look through the pin hole instead of projecting the image. But, then they could sue both the paper maker, the pin maker, and the poor guy who suggested the idea.

I saw a site on the web where you can find what you will see depending on your location. For here is is a 98% coverage of the sun. And I don't even have to go chasing the sun.

Last eclipse I was present for (partial at our location) we broke the cover slides off of 3 1/4" floppy disks and looked through the medium. Just about the right density. I doubt that they did much UV filtering, but none of us were into staring at the sun for more than a few seconds at a time. Partials are boring.

My Idaho friend in the Wood River region tells me that the Sheriff's Dept. is predicting up to 100,000 daytrippers trying to congregate between Galena Summit and Stanley where it will pass. There's only one way to get there, and it's a two-lane road almost all the way from Twin Falls. Traffic is gonna be UNcredible, especially through the towns. She's planning on hunkering down. Block her driveway with her motor home, stock in food and liquor, like the whole "prepper" bit, and she's 40 road miles south of the main event.

Here's the professional word on viewing: First and foremost, safety should be your top priority. The ONLY time you can safely look at the Sun without having to use a safe and certified solar filter is during the brief couple minutes or so of totality. All other times - even when the Sun is as much as 99% obscured - you MUST use a safe solar filter. The latter includes dedicated filters for telescopes and binoculars, eclipse glasses, and various projection methods. If you don't have access to a certified solar filter, you can use #14 welders glass (DO NOT use any grade lower than #14, because it may not effectively block all harmful wavelengths). Also, don't use regular sunglasses, CDs or DVDs, neutral density filters (even stacked ND filters), or other "tricks" for looking at the Sun. NASA has some safety tips on their web site at (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

I wonder if it could be viewed with a magnifying glass focused on a sheet of white paper? It would be very dangerous though because of the chance of starting the paper on fire. Anyone besides me remember making bugs pop with a magnifying glass on a sunny day?

JS

"I'll be happy to contribute to the wolf recovery program, 180 grains at a time" Unknown western rancher

When I was a kid we were taught to use a box with a very small hole. The box would have a white piece of paper in the bottom and the small hole at the top was like the old pin hole camera. Also needed a hole to look inside the box. What you got was an upside down picture of what was going on and no chance of messing up your eyes.Pin hole cameras were a project that we had in the 7th grade. The lens was a piece of tin foil with a pin hole. The box was made from heavy construction paper and painted black on the inside. The was a little flap in the back for inserting the film ( in the dark room). The "shutter" was a cork. You set the camera up, pulled the cork out and waited about 2 minutes and then put the cork back in. Back in the dark room the film was taken out of the camera and developed.

George, You bring back memories from when my brother and I were watching it in the 1950s. We were out in the old chicken coop early in the morning, smoking a piece of glass but we never got the second piece done before the eclipse took place. My brother was older and I ended up looking between my fingers. I now have scarring on the retina and have aout 400 vision in that eye. I'll never forget it. Bob

I wonder if it could be viewed with a magnifying glass focused on a sheet of white paper? It would be very dangerous though because of the chance of starting the paper on fire. Anyone besides me remember making bugs pop with a magnifying glass on a sunny day?

JS

We did that for fun and pest control

A few range fires were blamed on broken glass since there was no electrical power source under clear blue skies with temps of 100 plus in the high desert of southern Idaho.

"some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence

A few range fires were blamed on broken glass since there was no electrical power source under clear blue skies with temps of 100 plus in the high desert of southern Idaho.

Ain't that the truth! If there's any electricity within a mile of a fire, it's always blamed as the source! Amazing how many overloaded plug strips get reported as "faulty wiring" by the news media! Wish they'd use the correct term of "homeowner abuse" when electrical fires are the owner's bad habits.